11/26/2013

If you've used Skype on Windows Phone, chances are you've dealt with out-of-sync and missed messages. Luckily, a fix is on the horizon: according to Skype product manager Jeff Kunins, who spoke with The Verge, Microsoft is aware of the issues and working to resolve them. Part of the problem, it seems, stems from Microsoft's move from peer-to-peer networks for Skype to cloud-based servers.

Once the hiccups are fixed, users can expect syncing across devices to avoid any random bursts of old, already-read messages. Kunins also said that continuous notifications will run only on the device you're currently using, as opposed to every Skype-running gadget you own. Few things are more headache-inducing than five different devices ringing at once, after all. Finally, Kunins hinted that the Skype app for Windows 8.1 will have "a lot of fun things" to offer. Stay tuned.

11/21/2013

He went through a highly public split with his ex-fiance Miley Cyrus, but it seems as though Liam Hemsworth is ready to move on and isn't looking back.

During an interview with the Associated Press, the "Hunger Games" hunk revealed that after five years in Hollywood, he finally feels comfortable.

"I'm more comfortable in my own skin than I've ever been in my whole life," the Aussie actor stated. "Over the last five years I've learned so much. The first few years in LA were really tough and scary, but I had to figure things out for myself."

Although there are many speculations about his breakup with the "We Can't Stop" songstress, Liam stated, "I know I'm a good person and these days I feel like I'm more centered and grounded than I've ever been. What I always keep in my mind is that I know what the truth is and that's all that matters."

In regards to who is behind his new lifestyle outlook, Mr. Hemsworth gives his co-star Jennifer Lawrence a little bit a credit. "For a few years I went down a path where I forgot to be in the moment and enjoy the moment. But being around someone like Jen, who is honest and laughs all day long, I am forced to be in the right now. I'm much happier."

11/18/2013

It's going to be a very Merry Christmas for Beliebers everywhere as Justin Bieber's film, "Believe" hits theaters that day.

On Wednesday (November 13), the official poster for the movie was unveiled ahead of the trailer debut on Friday.

Directed by Jon M. Chu, the look at the teen pop sensation also features appearances from manager Scooter Braun, Usher, Ludacris, Mike Posner, and more.

Unfortunately, the "Beauty and a Beat" singer got into some more hot water on Saturday when he kicked an Argentina flag offstage onto the floor below during his concert in a move that was deemed disrespectful by some. Check out the video of the incident below.

11/15/2013

Audio for this story from Morning Edition will be available at approximately 9:00 a.m. ET.

New York City subway conductor Paquita Williams, left, and passenger Laura Lane became friends after a two-hour train breakdown.

StoryCorps

New York City subway conductor Paquita Williams, left, and passenger Laura Lane became friends after a two-hour train breakdown.

StoryCorps

Laura Lane met Paquita Williams, a New York City subway conductor, when their train was stopped underground for two hours. Generally, Paquita says, most passengers are nice, but "there's times if the train breaks down, people think that's my fault."

With the power out, Paquita walked the length of the train, comforting nervous passengers. That made a real impression on Laura. "You really made everybody on that train connect," Laura says. "We all started talking with each other like human beings. And we left the train and somebody was like, 'Let's do this again tomorrow morning.' "

Putting people at ease is important to Paquita, a single foster mom who's worked for the New York transit system for 15 years. On a dental visit years ago, she recalls, she was afraid and asked the dentist to hold her hand for comfort. He refused, and the memory has always stuck with her. "That's why I do what I do with my passengers," she says. "I want you to know that if you need me to hold your hand, I'm there."

11/12/2013

Andrew Parker of MI5, John Sawers of MI6, and Iain Lobban of GCHQ testifying before the Intelligence and Security Committee, Nov. 7, 2013.

Video still by UK Parliament via Reuters

In the months since Edward Snowden exposed mass surveillance by the National Security Agency, the U.S. Congress has grilled the agency, its overseers, and its intelligence-community partners in several open hearings. The British Parliament, however, has conducted no such interrogations, despite Snowden’s revelations of similar surveillance by the United Kingdom. Today, the chiefs of Britain’s top three intelligence agencies—MI5, MI6, and GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters), testified together publicly for the first time before the parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee. The session was a joke.

Will Saletan writes about politics, science, technology, and other stuff for Slate. He’s the author of Bearing Right. Follow him on Twitter.

I expected better. The Brits, after all, are the people who gave us Question Time, a daily ritual in which members of Parliament interrogate government ministers. Our public-affairs TV network, C-SPAN, treats this as a model of transparency, accountability, and lively debate. But in security matters, the U.K. has a long way to go. When the spy chiefs were asked in today’s committee session about domestic surveillance, they gave the same pat answers U.S. intelligence officials tried to peddle in early post-Snowden congressional hearings. They alluded to “safeguards,” “rigorous oversight,” and “internal rules.” The committee’s members failed to press for evidence or clarification.

The committee’s chairman, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, asked the spymasters why they had to monitor the entire public in order to catch evildoers. Sir Iain Lobban, the director of GCHQ, assured Rifkind that the government’s data harvesters don’t exceed what’s necessary and proper, since “there are very specific legal thresholds,” and “I don’t employ the type of people who would” spy on innocent civilians. “My people are motivated by saving lives,” Lobban sniffed.

In a congressional hearing, this is the kind of assertion that prompts somebody on the panel to ask for details. What legal thresholds? What internal rules? Instead, Rifkind thanked Lobban: “You’ve given a very full response.”

Ten minutes later, Rifkind asked Andrew Parker, the director general of MI5, for “specific examples” of damage done to British intelligence by the disclosure of surveillance methods. Parker offered to give the committee examples in closed session, but he assured Rifkind that thanks to GCHQ’s data collection, “there are real instances” of the government “finding terrorist plots that we would not otherwise find that we’re then able to thwart, which leads to lives being saved.” Again, this is the kind of assertion that often unravels under scrutiny in congressional hearings. But in the British forum, it went unchallenged.

Lobban claimed to have solid evidence. “What we have seen, over the last five months, is near daily discussion among some of our targets” showing damage from recent surveillance disclosures, he told the committee.

We’ve seen terrorist groups in the Middle East, in Afghanistan, and elsewhere in South Asia discussing the revelations in specific terms, in terms of the communications packages that they use, the communications packages that they wish to move to. … We have actually seen chat around specific terrorist groups, including close to home, discussing how to avoid what they now perceive to be vulnerable communications methods, or to how to select communications which they now perceive not to be exploitable.

At this point in an American hearing, you’d expect some congressman to ask the witness how we have such good intel on this “chat” if the bad guys have learned how to evade our surveillance. But nobody on the British panel raised that question.

Why was the interrogation so lame? I can imagine several reasons. The British spy agencies are only supporting actors in the surveillance story. The NSA is the main target, so Congress feels pressure to do something. Libertarianism and distrust of government are also less prevalent in the United Kingdom. One member of the British committee told the spy chiefs that in national polls, “about 60 percent of the public either think that you’ve got the right amount of powers, or indeed, some members of the public think you need more powers.” In addition, the Brits have a stronger faith in the decency of public servants. When NSA officials tell Congress that their employees are good people, we nod but persist. We want to know what laws and mechanisms are in place to prevent abuse.

Two other things about the hearing struck me as odd. One was this comment from Parker, the MI5 boss: “There have been times over the years when successive governments have offered my service greater powers and greater measures. And we’ve said they’re disproportionate and turned away from them.”

11/09/2013

A new airport complex is taking shape in Abu Dhabi, where roughly 12,000 construction workers are on-site daily to finish the massive structure, whose floor area is larger than that of the Pentagon. According to UAE paper The National, it will take 84,000 tons of steel to build the structure's dramatic arches, designed by New York-based KPF.

11/06/2013

Apple posted a maintenance update to iTunes for Mac and Windows today. The new version, 11.1.3, is available for download from Apple's web site and through the Software Update system preference.

According to Apple's release notes:

This version of iTunes resolves an issue where the equalizer may not as expected and improves performance when switching views in large iTunes libraries. This update also includes additional minor bug fixes.

11/03/2013

FILE - In this Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 file photo, a person eats in London. Researchers at Oxford University and the University of Reading estimated a 20 percent tax on soft drinks in Britain would reduce sales by 15 percent and could cut the number of obese adults by about 180,000. Though the number works out to a modest drop of 1.3 percent in obesity, scientists say that reduction would still be worthwhile in the UK, which has a population of about 63 million and is the fattest country in Western Europe. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, file)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 file photo, a person eats in London. Researchers at Oxford University and the University of Reading estimated a 20 percent tax on soft drinks in Britain would reduce sales by 15 percent and could cut the number of obese adults by about 180,000. Though the number works out to a modest drop of 1.3 percent in obesity, scientists say that reduction would still be worthwhile in the UK, which has a population of about 63 million and is the fattest country in Western Europe. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, file)

LONDON (AP) — Slapping a 20 percent tax on soda in Britain could cut the number of obese adults by about 180,000, according to a new study.

Though the number works out to a modest drop of 1.3 percent in obesity, scientists say that reduction would still be worthwhile in the U.K., which has a population of about 63 million and is the fattest country in Western Europe. About one in four Britons is obese.

Researchers at Oxford University and the University of Reading estimated a 20 percent tax on soft drinks would reduce sales by 15 percent and that people would buy beverages like orange juice, milk and diet drinks instead. They said the tax would have the biggest impact on people under 30, who drink more sugary drinks than anyone else. No funding was provided by any advocacy or industry groups for the study, published online Thursday in the journal, BMJ.

"Every possible alternative that people would buy is going to be better than a sugary drink," said Mike Rayner of Oxford, one of the study authors. "(The tax) is not a panacea, but it's part of the solution."

Rayner acknowledged the government might shy away from introducing such a hefty tax at a time when the economy is still shaky. Last year, Britain's Conservative-led coalition had to backtrack on a sales tax it planned to levy on fat-laden meat pies after a public outcry.

Such soft drink taxes have been used or considered elsewhere, including France, Mexico, Norway and some U.S. states, but previous analysis of them have found mixed results on people's drinking habits.

In the past, the U.K. has relied on convincing businesses to make their products healthier as opposed to resorting to taxes; that strategy reduced salt levels in processed foods by 20 to 50 percent.

Last week, Britain announced another government-led initiative, in which several major food companies promised to cut the amount of saturated fat in their products. Critics slammed the deal and said the U.K. shouldn't rely on voluntary measures to fight the country's growing waistlines.

"We are at the mercy of these (food and drink) companies," said Tam Fry, spokesman for the National Obesity Forum. Fry was not linked to the BMJ study and said the proposed 20 percent tax would be a hard sell. Instead, Fry said the government should simply fine companies if they exceed a certain threshold for the amount of sugar allowable in food and drink.

"Companies should be coerced with fiscal measures rather than punishing the consumer with taxes," Fry said. "We are in such a predicament with obesity in this country that we have to put the pussy-footing measures to one side," he said. "It's time for the stick to come out."

The processor design doubles the core count over its predecessor but is more energy efficient, according to ARM, thanks partly to a 50 percent reduction in the amount of bandwidth needed to move data in and out of memory. The upshot should be better graphics without reducing battery life.

ARM also released the lower-end Mali-T720, its first GPU for midrange devices that supports version 3.0 of the OpenGL ES graphics programming interface.

Version 3.0 is becoming a requirement for Android, and the T720 will allow makers of lower cost devices to use the latest releases of Google's mobile OS, said Trina Watt, ARM vice president for solutions marketing. Currently, cheaper smartphones and tablets often use older versions of Android.

ARM doesn't manufacture chips itself; it creates designs that it licenses to other companies. It's best known for its Cortex CPU designs, used in most smartphones and tablets including Apple's iPhone and iPads.

It's less dominant in graphics, where it trails Qualcomm and Imagination Technologies. But ARM's share of the mobile GPU market is growing and now stands at 18 percent, according to Jon Peddie Research.

Mali chips are used in about half the Android tablets sold today and about a fifth of the smartphones, according to Watt. They're used in Samsung's Galaxy Note 3 and Google's Nexus 10, for instance, though most Mali chips find their way into lower-cost products sold in China.

In that sense the T720 may be the more significant of the two products announced, because of its potentially wider reach. Along with the new Open GL standard, it brings graphics compute capabilities to the midrange of the Mali line, allowing devices to perform tasks like facial recognition and stitching photos together into a panorama.

GPUs tend to be more power efficient at those tasks than CPUs, so the T720 should help prolong battery life while freeing up the CPU to do other work.

Other priorities for manufacturers are a small chip size -- ARM says the T720 is 30 percent smaller in area than its predecessor -- and speed to market.

The extra cores on the higher-end T760 will help to enable features like video editing, gesture recognition and high resolution 4K displays on tablets, Watt said.

If the T760 is still on the market by the time chip makers move to a more advanced manufacturing process -- which will let them make smaller transistors -- 16 cores will be a "no brainer," he said.

To improve energy efficiency, the T760 introduces a technology called frame buffer compression, which reduces the amount of bandwidth needed to transfer data between different parts of a system on chip.

Each time the GPU has to access memory it consumes power, so compressing the data and reducing its back and forth movement prolongs battery life, Loats said.

The Mali-T760 is based on a new ARM GPU core called Skrymir, named after a giant in Norse mythology. ARM entered the GPU market when it bought the Norwegian chip firm Falanx, hence the Nordic theme.

The cores are both available for licensing now, Watt said. It used to take around 18 months for new designs to find their way into finished products, but Watt said competitive pressure on device makers is shortening that time to less than a year in some cases.

James Niccolai covers data centers and general technology news for IDG News Service. Follow James on Twitter at @jniccolai. James's e-mail address is james_niccolai@idg.com.